


The Curious Case of Angus McDonald

by klatukatt



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Angst, I love all of these idiots, Mystery, my very specific headcannon, revealing the secret history of angus mcdonald
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-19
Updated: 2018-02-19
Packaged: 2019-03-21 04:01:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,808
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13732725
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/klatukatt/pseuds/klatukatt
Summary: Young Angus is sixteen and there is one final mystery to be revealed, his true past!





	The Curious Case of Angus McDonald

The time after the day of Story and Song was filled with activity. Most parts of the world had sustained some kind of damage and while the crew wanted to relax and catch up together they often found themselves pulled in different directions. Finally, Barry found a chance to sneak up to Lucretia’s office for a private chat.

“Hey, Creesh, I got a question for ya.”

“Of course! How can I help?”

“It’s about Angus McDonald.”

Lucretia blinked and took a deep breath, drawing herself up to monalouge height. “There are some things in the past that I regret—”

“No no,” Barry cut her off. “I understand that part. I mean, I’d love to know more because I wasn’t there for any of it, but what I wanted to ask is, should we tell him?”

Lucretia sighed. “He will figure it out eventually. He is the world’s greatest detective.”

“Yeah, he is something else. But what are we gonna tell him when he asks?”

“That will be up to you.”

“Yeah, but it’s not all about me.”

“It isn’t?”

The two started at each other blankly.

“Yep! It is totally on me!” Barry stood up suddenly. “I take full responsibility.”

He hurried out of the office leaving Lucretia to wonder what piece she was missing.

 

* * *

 

 

Strangely enough it was Taako who noticed it first. The kid was constantly pestering him for more magic lessons even though they had just saved the world, give it a rest, please. Taako eventually yielded and allowed himself to be dragged to the moonbase quad to see if the squirt had been practicing.

Angus went through his standard fire routine, trying to start off with something exciting, but when he looked back the elf and dropped his hands to his sides and was staring with his mouth agape.

“Have you always cast spells like that, little man?”

“Yes sir, just like you taught me. Is something wrong?”

“Oh nothing.” It’s not like he’d been watching those flourishes for a hundred years and only now realized why they were so familiar.

Taako continued on with the lesson and tried not to think about it. He didn’t even try to tell any of the others because every time he tried to think of the words his brain, metaphorically not literally, went to static.

 

* * *

 

 

Then there was the curious incident of the beard. Angus had come to Adventure-camp for the summer. Merle noticed the kid was always hanging around, especially when Mavis was planning an extended stay, but he kept his distance until Mavis said she’d had enough.

“Dad, you gotta help me out here and tell him I’m not interested. He doesn’t even have a proper beard.” Mavis gestured to Angus whom she had brought in front of her step-father for justification and ridicule.

“I do too have a beard! See!” Angus jutted out his chin and true enough there were some short curls of hair accenting his face.

“Aw, you look like a baby,” Merle said mockingly. “How old are you now kid?”

“Fifteen,” said Angus with all the fierceness of a fifteen-year-old.

“Yeah, late bloomer. Figures. Mavis grew her beard here when she was nine.” Merle and Mavis shared a knowing nod. “Now lay off my daughter, you creep!”

Mavis smirked and strode away but Merle caught Angus by the shoulder.

“Hey, uh, is Taako feeding you all right?”

“Yes sir, why do you ask?”

Merle looked off after Mavis. “I just kinda realize, you haven’t really grown since I met you. Humans at your age are usually…”

“Taller, sir? Well, like you said, I’m a late bloomer.”

Angus ran off leaving Merle to puzzle about humans and whether the beard was supposed to come before their growth spurt or after.

 

* * *

 

 

Everything changed when Angus’s voice dropped and he began to sound exactly like Magnus.

The boys were all gathered for Candlenights and picking on their favorite little brother as usual.

“Come on, you little shit, it’s all in good fun! How old are you now, anyways.”

“I’m nineteen now Magnus.”

Magnus clutched his chest as if he was having a heart attack. “Nineteen! There is no way! When did you go and grow up on us?”

“Yeah, and when did you start sounding exactly like Magnus?” Taako laughed drunkenly.

“What? No he doesn’t,” Magnus  replied.

“Yeah, no I don’t,” Angus copied in a very similar voice, but this one slightly more unsure.

“Guys, if I covered my eyes there is no way I could tell you apart.” Taako put a hand over his face dramatically. “Look, one of you say something and I’ll try to guess who said it.”

A moment of silence followed. “I have a theory.”

“Well now you just ruined it because I know Magnus would never say something like that.” Taako uncovered his eyes to see Magnus and Merle staring at a serious faced Angus.

“I think we should talk to Barry Bluejeans,” Angus said with a sigh.

“Ohhhhh,” said Tres Horny Boys in unison.

“Wait, I don’t get it,” said Taako. “Why Barry?”

 

* * *

 

 

The IPRE crew had gathered, at Angus’s request, to talk about a matter of grave importance.  The young man paced in front of them, with his hands behind his back and his brow furrowed, trying to figure out where to start.

“It seems to me that after the Day of Story and Song a lot of different pieces fell into place now that the whole world could share the memories of this crew, but there is one more mystery that needs to be solved, not with magic, but with good old fashioned detective work.” Angus took a deep breath. “Me.”

He looked at his mentors, his family, and registered all the expressions of excitement, confusion, and anxiousness, determining where to strike first.

“How about we start with the most open of the group,” Angus turned on his heel, “Taako, when did you know something was up?”

Taako was lounging on a couch by himself and gave Angus a classic look. “You know I’m dumb as hell, darling; I don’t know anything.”

“Okay, then I’ll tell you when you felt it: the magic lesson.”

Taako sighed. “You’re right. That first time after I got my memory back I saw you and your magic and—” He looked at a loss for words. “I didn’t know what it meant and I couldn’t tell anyone, especially not Lup.” He looked at his sister and shrugged. “He’s got your style, Lulu.”

Lup laughed in disbelief, but Angus cut her off. “It sounds unbelievable but wait to weigh in. Magnus?”

“Yeah, I, uh, saw a resemblance after we got our memories back.” Magnus seemed a little embarrassed as he glanced at the chair where Lup was draped over Barry. “It’s the glasses. I mean, they are pretty rare, and also that you are a huge nerd. Not that that’s a bad thing! But when I think of a nerd, now, I think of the sweetest and smartest guy that I’ve known and loved for a hundred years.” Magnus smiled.

“I noticed something too,” Merle piped up. “Yeah, I noticed something before we got our memories back, when you started living on the moon with us.” The group looked at Merle skeptically, as usual. “No, really. You have the same face and the same eyes, and I just thought the Director had some secret past  she didn’t want to tell us—”

There were several exclamations of confusion and scorn.

“You think Angus looks like Lucretia?” Magnus asked.

“Yeah. Is that not what we were doing?”

“That’s an interesting point,” said Angus, taking back the reigns of the conversation. “Lucretia? What were you thinking when you hired me on to the Bureau of Balance?”

“I thought you were an exceptional child,” said Lucretia calmly.

“And when you found out you had met me before?” Angus’s question was met with a collective gasp.

“I hired you anyway.”  Lucretia looked at her assembled family. “After I— after I made my decision I had to clean up anything we had left behind. One of the things I found was a device, some strange vat in one of our many secret locations, and inside was a baby, ready to be born and—” She shut her eyes and the tears that had been gathering escaped down her face. “His parents were dead and I couldn’t take him with me on the road I was traveling, so I found him a home and believed, and I deeply believed in those days, that forgetting was better.”

It was painful to make her relive this and Angus could see the group physically draw closer to her. He decided to finish her part of the story.

“You saw my backstory when I applied and, having already let three of your former crew back into your life, thought it was okay to let one more relic of the past join your new family.” Lucretia nodded and Angus shifted the focus. “Which means there is only one last question, where did this baby come from, Barry?”

All eyes turned to the flushed human who was squirming in his chair. Barry’s eyes looked up to Lup. “It was a surprise, see? Sort of an experiment, kind of based of the reversal of the lich ritual. If we were gonna be stuck here on one plane I thought maybe we could add to our—” Barry gestured to the whole room— “collective family. So I used all of us to make him, someone new. I tried to go back to check on him but he was gone and I thought I had just failed and then I got caught up in using the vat to regrow my body and—”

Lup stopped Barry’s babbling with a kiss.

Angus gave a shy grin. “So I guess that’s it, my origin story revealed. Sorry you didn’t get to weigh in, Captain Davenport.”

“Oh I knew about the baby,” said Davenport simply, prompting surprised gasps. “Barry is a genius, but he’s hopeless on his own. I helped him build the tanks that would ultimately be responsible for his and Magnus’s revivals, but I didn’t know that Barry’s first attempt had succeeded until today.” He walked over to the young man who was still a foot taller than himself and held out a hand. “Welcome to the family, son.”

Angus took it solemnly only to feel hands on his shoulders.

“You can take this to paternity court if you want,” said Taako from behind Angus, “but this boy is still living with me and Kravitz.”

“How dare you,” came Lup’s voice and Angus winced. “I am the boy’s long lost mother and he obviously needs my guidance!”

The twins fell into a dramatic mock fight over parental custody while the rest of the former IPRE jumped up to hug their son.

**Author's Note:**

> I will never not head-canon this. This is why Barry invented cloning machines, because he wanted a child. I love Angus and he belongs to all of them.


End file.
